ecwu61@castle.ed.ac.uk (R Renwick) (02/12/91)
In article <1991Feb11.124128.2990@cns.umist.ac.uk> vanaards%t7@uk.ac.man.cs writes: > > There seems to be a trend in these discussions as to what we'd like > to see in a new Archimedes machine. Well I'll add to this : > > Presently there is NO way of undeleting a file - this is a MAJOR mistake. > If you're in business & you accidently delete your current work file > you've no way of recovering it other that hacking the disk. But with > DOS based systems there's no hassle, I've seem many undelete programs. Well I ain't ever used an OS that has a built in 'undelete' facility. I have seen programs such as undel for MS-DROS and Unix boxes and Recover for the Archi though. > Why place the Econet roms in the machines OS as standard ? How many users > actually use Econet. As Acorn consider schools,etc as their main market > this may seem good policy - but why not move them off to a podule ? Maybe I am just being particularly dense, but what difference does it make whether the roms are in the machine or on a podule??? > The MEMC chip needs to be replaced, I believe that the current page size > is far too large - this is apparent on UNIX boxes. > > I'd like to see faster screen updates regardless of mode. Now I haven't > any sound ideas on how this should be done - perhaps a second bus and > screen memory, or a BLITTER chip ? Blitter would be nice. > I'd like the TASK manager icon to display the Tasks window without having > to go through that menu - perhaps by pressing select only. What about a > facility of killing modules from the desktop too ? > > Some time ago several modules appeared to change the current directory > from the desktop, and display the current directory name alongside the > OS prompt. These should be incorporated in the new system. > > A larger string size should be made available to system variables, having > a limit to 255 characters for <run$path> tends towards a broad disk > heirarchy, either introduce several run$paths, or increase the limit. > > Group selection of icons within a window would be useful. If you're familiar > with the Atari machines you'll know what I mean. Being able to have a rubber > banded selection area would make things a lot simpler when operating upon > a lot of files. Yuch!!!!!!! Windows 3 on the PC allows you to do this and it make the overall appearence of the desktop look terrible. I like to see the files in nice neat lines and in alphabetical order so I know where in a window to look for a particular file. > What about passing parameters to programs from the desktop. Select a program > and using the menu, enter the command line parameters you want to use. Surely this is down to the application itself. ie Pascal and C compiler front ends allow this. This shouldn't have anything to do with the OS. > From the few dealers I've been to, they seem to concentrate upon desktop > publishing on the Archimedes, perhaps they should be encouraged to promote > the business advantages as well. Why use the Archimedes as a DTP machine > only, a DOS machine does that, and everyone knows that it's a business > machine, thus having everything needed by a prospective business user. Have you ever used a PC for DTP? If you had, I'm sure you would understand why PC people get excited when they see what the Archi can do. > If I have any more ideas I'll send them too. > >PS has anyone noticed that if you hold down the SHIFT key, press the CapsLock > Key - the light comes on (as expected) but if you then try to turn CapsLock > off whilst holding down SHIFT the light doesn't go off ! This is supposed to happen. It even happened on the good old beeb. The idea is that SHIFT+CAPS means than pressing a key on it's own give uppercase while SHIFT+key gives lowercase. This state is reached as soon as SHIFT+CAPS is pressed regardless of the state of CAPS beforehand. Rik =============================================================================== ############ Richard Renwick ecwu61@uk.ac.ed.castle # # Computer Science 4 OR rlr@uk.ac.ed.lfcs @ ~~~ ~~~ @ University of Edinburgh |\@ ** ** @/| Edinburgh | @ ** ** @ | |/@ || @\| @ \ || / @ @ \______/ @ "Doesn't the grass look funny from underneath?" @ @ - Penfold @@@@@@@@@@ ===============================================================================
x51@nikhefh.nikhef.nl (Excursiecommissie) (02/13/91)
In article <8454@castle.ed.ac.uk> ecwu61@castle.ed.ac.uk (R Renwick) writes: > >In article <1991Feb11.124128.2990@cns.umist.ac.uk> vanaards%t7@uk.ac.man.cs writes: >> Presently there is NO way of undeleting a file - this is a MAJOR mistake. >> If you're in business & you accidently delete your current work file >> you've no way of recovering it other that hacking the disk. But with >> DOS based systems there's no hassle, I've seem many undelete programs. > > Well I ain't ever used an OS that has a built in 'undelete' >facility. I have seen programs such as undel for MS-DROS and Unix boxes >and Recover for the Archi though. Have you ever used Quick Unerase from the Norton Utilities on a PC or the Macintosh? This is the way Recover for the Arch should work. No hassle, just simply recovering your file from a list of recoverable files. I sure would like a utility that did that. Sadly I haven't got time (and ideas) to implement a thing like that, so I hope there is some clever programmer out there who will write this for us. :-) >> Group selection of icons within a window would be useful. If you're familiar >> with the Atari machines you'll know what I mean. Being able to have a rubber >> banded selection area would make things a lot simpler when operating upon >> a lot of files. > > Yuch!!!!!!! Windows 3 on the PC allows you to do this and it >make the overall appearence of the desktop look terrible. I like to see >the files in nice neat lines and in alphabetical order so I know where >in a window to look for a particular file. I think you are discussing two different things here, and are forgetting on which computer it all originated (The Mac) (Ok, the Xerox Star). I think rubberbanding is a very good idea. On my mac I always group the files together that belong together, so I can select them all together. I hate it on my Arc that if I want 17 files from a directory with 40 entries, I have to click 17 times on different files. I want to do it in one, or a couple of, strokes. About the second thing: I like to group the files like I want to. I want the wimp to open a directory with only the files visible I find interesting. Also I want the wimp to open the directory where I last closed it, so you can make a nice layout of your desktop. > Have you ever used a PC for DTP? If you had, I'm sure you would >understand why PC people get excited when they see what the Archi can do. Have you ever used a Mac for DTP? I like Impression a lot, but I still use a Macintosh WORD-PROCESSOR for most of my DTP work. Axel. (I have an Arc for programming, and a Mac for serious work because it works).
mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) (02/13/91)
ecwu61@castle.ed.ac.uk (R Renwick) writes: > Well I ain't ever used an OS that has a built in 'undelete' >facility. You've never used a Macintosh? Never used an Amstrad PCW? Ah, well. >> Group selection of icons within a window would be useful. If you're familiar >> with the Atari machines you'll know what I mean. Being able to have a rubber >> banded selection area would make things a lot simpler when operating upon >> a lot of files. > > Yuch!!!!!!! Windows 3 on the PC allows you to do this and it >make the overall appearence of the desktop look terrible. I like to see >the files in nice neat lines and in alphabetical order so I know where >in a window to look for a particular file. That's an entirely separate issue. GEM on the ST allows you to rubber-band icons; it also lists them in neat lines and in alphabetical order. You can have your icon and eat it, too. >> What about passing parameters to programs from the desktop. Select a program >> and using the menu, enter the command line parameters you want to use. > > Surely this is down to the application itself. ie Pascal and C >compiler front ends allow this. This shouldn't have anything to do with >the OS. Again, on the ST I can click on a command-line-driven program and the machine will pop up a little box. I type the parameters, and off it goes. Much nicer than having to call up that wretched command line interpreter, or having to learn to use yet another compiler front-end. > Have you ever used a PC for DTP? If you had, I'm sure you would >understand why PC people get excited when they see what the Archi can do. If you've used a PC for DTP, almost anything looks exciting :-) mathew.
ecwu61@castle.ed.ac.uk (R Renwick) (02/14/91)
In article <V3aBX15w163w@mantis.co.uk> mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) writes: >ecwu61@castle.ed.ac.uk (R Renwick) writes: >> Well I ain't ever used an OS that has a built in 'undelete' >>facility. > >You've never used a Macintosh? Never used an Amstrad PCW? Ah, well. Well I could never find a pair of binoculars strong enough to let me read the writing on a mac screen and I could find one with a radius screen. :-) As for using an Amstrad .......... NEVER >:-) > >>> Group selection of icons within a window would be useful. If you're familiar >>> with the Atari machines you'll know what I mean. Being able to have a rubber >>> banded selection area would make things a lot simpler when operating upon >>> a lot of files. >> >> Yuch!!!!!!! Windows 3 on the PC allows you to do this and it >>make the overall appearence of the desktop look terrible. I like to see >>the files in nice neat lines and in alphabetical order so I know where >>in a window to look for a particular file. > >That's an entirely separate issue. GEM on the ST allows you to rubber-band >icons; it also lists them in neat lines and in alphabetical order. >You can have your icon and eat it, too. > Oops, my mistake! Sorry! =============================================================================== ############ Richard Renwick ecwu61@uk.ac.ed.castle # # Computer Science 4 OR rlr@uk.ac.ed.lfcs @ ~~~ ~~~ @ University of Edinburgh |\@ ** ** @/| Edinburgh | @ ** ** @ | |/@ || @\| @ \ || / @ @ \______/ @ "Doesn't the grass look funny from underneath?" @ @ - Penfold @@@@@@@@@@ ===============================================================================